in light of the chatbox and its discussion of earthquakes in taiwan, i looked it up and came across this.

it seems awesome to me that God uses one evil of satans to counter another one of his evils.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090610133449.htm

ScienceDaily (June 12, 2009) — Scientists have made the surprising finding that typhoons trigger slow earthquakes, at least in eastern Taiwan. Slow earthquakes are non-violent fault slippage events that take hours or days instead of a few brutal seconds to minutes to release their potent energy. The researchers discuss their data in a study published the June 11, issue of Nature.

....
The researchers speculate that the reason devastating earthquakes are rare in eastern Taiwan is because the slow quakes act as valves, releasing the stress frequently along a small section of the fault, eliminating the situation where a long segment sustains continuous high stresses until it ruptures in a single great earthquake. The group is now expanding their instrumentation and monitoring for this research.

Thank you, Teresa, for bringing this to our attention. It is a thought-provoking article.

I do question the science of it for its assumptions. However, it remains true that Taiwan, at basically the terminus of "Typhoon Ally," is the most typhoon-battered location in the world. Typhoons are also the strongest and most frequent of all the cyclones (cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons).

I have weathered, just to the north of the eye, a super-typhoon that would have equaled or exceeded Hurricane Katrina in strength. Taiwan, however, had a relatively limited number of deaths from it, mostly resultant from mudslides and road/bridge washouts. In my case, I watched out the windows as the winds ripped several signs to shreds, tore the roofing off the high-school a short distance away, and ripped green branches off the trees, casting them into the streets. The concrete building shook and trembled in the gale, but kept us safe.

For this typhoon (Morakot), I was back in the same building, but it was much, much milder. (This was only a Category 2 typhoon.)

The force of the winds sure reduced the gas mileage while driving against them. Having returned home to a power outage and heavy winds with downed branches and trees littering the place, there will be much to do out-of-doors once the weather shapes up. I'm glad the power is back on now.

In my first three weeks on this island I saw as many typhoons--two of them being major ones which cut our power for a day each. (I learned to keep some water in buckets before the typhoon hit, as once the power is out, there is no pump for the water.)

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Very interesting indeed.

Glad you made it safely back home.

I watched on the TV news a hotel fall into the water.

It was quite a sight.

I was also glad to hear that the hotel had been evacuated prior to its fall into the water.

I thought a comparison of the typhoon I went through last year near the place it made landfall and Hurricane Katrina is interesting.

Cyclone	Hurricane Katrina	Typhoon Jangmi/Changmi/Ofel
Place / Year	USA, 2005	Taiwan, 2008
Max. Category	Category 5 Hurricane	Category 5 Super Typhoon
Landfall Classification	Category 3	Category 4
Landfall Wind Speeds	120 mph / 195 km/h (New Orleans)	130 mph / 210 km/h (Yilan)
Max. Wind Speeds (1 min. sustained)	175 mph / 280 km/h	160 mph / 260 km/h
Landfall Min. Pressure	920 mbar (hPa)	910 mbar (hPa)
Min. Pressure Overall	902 mbar (hPa)	905 mbar (hPa)
Storm Surge *	7.6 meters (25 ft)	est. 5.4 meters (18 ft)
Local Actions	Massive evacuations	Two days' public holiday
DEATHS	1,836 confirmed, 705 missing	1 direct, 1 indirect, 2 missing

* Surge and wave heights on shore are affected by the configuration and bathymetry of the ocean bottom. A narrow shelf, or one that has a steep drop from the shoreline and subsequently produces deep water in close proximity to the shoreline tends to produce a lower surge, but a higher and more powerful wave.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

A storm comes in, the americans evacuate, the taiwanese go on holiday. This be an interesting difference.

Yes. Taiwan doesn't get "snow days." But we get "typhoon days." So, many like to have a typhoon here.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Some more typhoons are potentially aimed at us. Yes, that's plural.

http://www.tropicalstormrisk.com/tracker/dynamic/W.html

If you look right now, you'll see FOUR Typhoons/Tropical Storms in the Northwest Pacific region. Since this website is constantly updated, the information there will "expire," but the website itself provides about as much advance notice of typhoons as I get here.

Currently, the four storms out there include: Typhoon Ketsana, Tropical Storm Eighteen, Tropical Storm Parma, and Tropical Storm Twenty. (Those links may still work later.)

Three of these storms are so near to each other, that they will undoubtedly be influencing each other. I will be interested in just how this happens.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

I saw on my news feed that an earthquake and tsunami hit Samoa early today.

Deadly Tsunami Sweeps Trough South Pacific

I see that a mafor earthquake has struck Indonesia today

While;

The typhoon called "Parma" is now preparing to hit the Philippines, and may glance off of them to hit Taiwan next (it's not entirely predictable).

There are multiple ways of measuring a typhoon: wind strength, overall diameter, barometric pressure in the eye, moisture content, etc. However, barometric pressure is one of the easiest and more conventional means of comparing the relative strengths of tropical storms.

According to this measurement of pressure, Parma now equals the strength of Hurricane Katrina when it made landfall--and there are still some warm seas ahead of it. Wherever this hits, there will be damage.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

That not good news.

I'm watching two separate forecasts for it. One says Parma, which has been upgraded to a Super-typhoon status by the way, will hit the Philippines and then veer left (south) as a result--leading it away from Taiwan. The other report still shows Parma tracking toward Taiwan, with less of an impact in the Philippines.

I have a feeling the first one is more accurate. Unfortunately, it will also cause more damage that way. I feel that Taiwan has better infrastructure and architecture to handle quakes and storms. The Philippines has not had as strong of an economy, and has not built as well. So, for their sake, I hope that the Typhoon will come hit us in Taiwan instead. It's just not looking as likely now, with Parma scheduled to hit the Philippines in about two days' time.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

I have a relation with in-laws in the Philippines, so I would rather see it go the other way as well. As if I have any control! I will keep all in my prayers.

Earthquakes rock South Pacific

Is it possible to steer typhoons? Some people think the HAARP weapon system can do that.

Prayer is one method that works (when it's God's will).

Mountain Man, Is it possible God will let evil men hurt millions of people before Jesus comes?

Yes. Jesus has permitted all manner of evil to play out resulting in millions of deaths (though it breaks His heart).